Trust Gene Simmons of Kiss to inject
some controversy into the band's induction into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame today (April 10, US time). While so many others are happy to take the accolade, do the handshakes and
attend the slap-up dinner, Simmons was blunt and got the headline.

He recently told a US radio jock that
hip-hop doesn't belong in the Hall of Fame, and nor do disco artists
like Donna Summer.

"They can run their organization
any way they'd like,” he said of the Hall of Fame committee picking
rappers and glitterball acts, “but it ain't rock! It just isn't! If
you don't play guitar and you don't write your own songs, you don't
belong there."

Perhaps Simmons was just playing
catch-up with his bandmate Paul Stanley who recently objected to
Robert Hunter – lyric writer for the Grateful Dead and others --
being inducted with the Dead (“a writer who never played an
instrument”) and furthermore . . .

Kiss' original line-up of Stanley,
Simmons, Peter Criss and Ace Frehley are being inducted, but Criss
left them in '80 and Frehley in '82. So Stanley and Simmons wanted
their replacements Eric Singer and Tommy Thayer to be inducted also
because they “have been in the band for decades and played on
multiplatinum albums and toured the world”.

And that's why Kiss, in whatever
line-up, said they wouldn't play at their induction this month.

Simmons and Stanley might have also
raised their voices about two other inductees this year, Brian
Epstein (right) and Andrew Loog Oldham (who is boycotting the ceremony).

Neither of them played an instrument,
they managed the Beatles and the Stones respectively, Oldham also founding the Immediate label.

So the rules for induction to the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame seem fairly flexible.

Although to be fair there are categories for
people like Epstein and Oldham (right), record company bosses like Ahmet Ertgun and others deserving of recognition.

But let's see
who – other than Kiss and those two legendary managers – got
recognition on April 10 at the Barclays Centre in Brooklyn.

That well known rocker Cat Stevens (now
known as Yusef Islam) alongside Hall and Oates, Nirvana, Linda
Ronstadt (who recently announced her retirement from music due to the
onset of Parkinson's Disease), Peter Gabriel and the E Street Band.
And that last one is interesting given Mr Springsteen/Patti Scialfa
and guitarist Nils Lofgren arrived further down the track . . .

So as reader service let's helpfully
pick three albums by each of these acts which are persuasive evidence
as to why they should be there in the Hall of Fame alongside Abba,
the Beach Boys, Beatles, Madonna, Frank Zappa and, yes, Grandmaster
Flash, country singer Bill Monroe, jazzman Jelly Roll Morton, gospel
singer Mahalia Jackson and radio DJ Alan Freed.

KISS

The band that seemed to model itself on
what a 13-year old manga-obsessed Japanese boy might think a rock
group looked like. And that was a good thing.

Kiss (1974): Although they would
go on to bigger things and higher-heeled boots this debut staked out
the ground. The title of the opening song says it all, Strutter.

Alive! (1975): Cherry picking
the best of their three previous albums this double album captured
the excitement of the band at an early peak.

Destroyer (1976): Opening with
Detroit Rock City and including God of Thunder, this was their first
million-selling album in the US and from then on they were
unstoppable, both as band and a marketing machine.

NIRVANA

Nevermind (1991): The album that
launched a thousand grunge bands, put Seattle on the music map again,
and started to emotionally cripple Kurt Cobain. Still a classic
pop-rock album though (see here).

In Utero (1993): In many ways
this was Kurt's rejoinder to fame, the anti-Nevermind. Has grown in
stature (if that's possible for an album that has sold about 20
million copies)

MTV Unplugged (1994): Stripped
back to showcase Cobain's songwriting skills – in places it sounds
like The Beatles' White Album which he much admired – but also
democratically inviting in covers of Bowie, the Meat Puppets,
Vaselines and rather improbably Lead Belly blues.

CAT STEVENS

From psychedelic pop in the late 60s he
became the archetypal British singer-songwriter and delivered
memorable classics in the early Seventies.

Tea for the Tillerman (1970):
Smart, social conscience songs (Where Do the Children Play?)
alongside bedsit ballad (Wild World) an the MOR radio favourite
Father and Son. Classy.

Teaser and the Firecat (1971): A
few hits (Morning has Broken, Moonshadow, Peace Train) and more
cleverly polished folk-pop.

Foreigner (1973): Delivering
another Tillerman or Teaser might have been the easy option but this
much more ambitious album – one song is 18 minutes long –
alienated most fans but shows just what an ambitious writer he could
be.

HALL AND OATES

Blue-eyed soul with good hair and a
moustache.

Abandoned Luncheonette (1973):
With slick studio musicians, a smooth gloss in the vocals and
produced by Arif Mardin, H&O made their mark as practitioners of
Philly soul with this one, and tellingly their song She's Gone was
covered by black artists Tavares and Lou Rawls.

Private Eyes (1981): More
polished rock'n'soul music which, although often disparaged by clever
critics, has hooks a plenty.

H2O (1982): Located somewhere
between emerging New Wave, pure pop, their template of blue-eyed soul
and MOR, this was further proof of their durability and popularity.
It's hard to shake off Maneater.

THE E STREET BAND

A leader is only as good as the troops
he has with him, and Springsteen had the best with this group

The Wild, The Innocent an the E
Street Shuffle (1973): This is
where 50s rock'n'roll, 60s soul and Bob Dylan all met in a seaside
bar in New Jersey and rewrote the book of rules.

Born to Run (1975): It might
have taken them a long time in the studio to get this right but here
the band paint in the landscapes, streets and characters behind
Springsteen lyrics.

The River (1980): Some might say
Darkness on the Edge of Town would be a better pick, or even Live
1975-85, and they may well be right. But this double set is just
rocking pop'n'roll and the band sound like they are having fun, or
getting down with the darker moods.

There is plenty of Springsteen at Elsewhere starting here, and this interview with the E Street Band's Steven Van Zandt

PETER GABRIEL

Yes, he's a clever clogs and maybe he
takes himself too seriously, but when he nails it, it stays nailed
down

Peter Gabriel 3 (1980): The one
with his face melting and which includes Biko and Games Without
Frontiers. Some scary stuff here (Intruder, Family Snapshot) but the
darkness suited him. A standout in a long career, considered in depth here.

So (1986): One of the most
experimental albums in his catalogue but which also sprung the hits
Sledgehammer and Don't Give Up (with kate Bush). Intelligent rock
doesn't come much more crafted and crafty.

Passion (1989): Cheating perhaps
as the musical weight largely falls to other but for the soundtrack
to Scorsese's Last Temptation of Christ, Gabriel used music by
exceptional world music types like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Hossam
Ramzy. This is the exotic and emotionally moving result.

LINDA RONSTADT

Remember Donny and Marie Osmond singing
about how she was a little bit country and he was a little bit
rock'n'roll? Ronstadt was both. And sometimes more than a little bit
of each.

Heart Like a Wheel (1974): In
which she proved she could bend rock'n'roll (When Will I Be Loved),
classic soul (Dark End of the Street) and folk (the title track) into
something her own. Her fifth album, but the career starter.

Adieu False Heart (2006): Recorded with Ann Savoy, this was a real return to some (perhaps imagined) roots in glorious Cajun and bluegrass music, but also knocked in a terrific cover of Walk Away Renee and a couple of Richard Thompson songs. You can read about it here.

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